Romance: Stepbrother On Top

by A. Valentine

  “You guys are going out of business?” Tawni walked over to a case full of crystals. “These are really pretty.”

  “Thanks. Yeah. My Mom is selling. She’s moving to Florida,” Shannon said. “She’s decided to become a beach bunny.” She meant it as a joke, but Tawni didn’t laugh.

  “What about you?” Tawni asked. “Are you going to Florida too?”

  Shannon shook her head, carefully. “I’m thinking about going to Albany.”

  “That’s where Brendan goes to school.”

  “Yeah.”

  Tawni’s eyes rose to meet Shannon’s gaze. “What’s going on with you guys? Are you a couple or what?” The energy in the shop changed. Normally a pleasant enough space, it now crackled with tension and hostility.

  “Why do you ask?” Shannon asked.

  “I’ve had a crush on Brendan since I was in middle school,” Tawni said. “He’s smart. And he’s funny. And he’s always been cute.” She shrugged. “When I was a kid, of course he never noticed me. But I’m not a kid anymore.”

  Shannon looked Tawni up and down, slowly. “No, you’re really not.”

  Tawni laughed. “Don’t hate me for what my Mama gave me,” she said. “But I’m not going to interfere if you and him have a thing going on. I know you two were always together in school. But are you guys just buddies now, or is it something more?”

  “I want it to be something more,” Shannon said. “I want it to be a lot more. But I’ll be honest with you, Tawni. I’m not going to know the answer to your question until probably this time tomorrow.”

  Tawni cocked her head. “You’ll tell me how it goes, either way?”

  Shannon nodded.

  A bright smile covered Tawni’s face. “I’ve waited this long. One more day’s not going to kill me.” She let her long, brightly manicured nails rest against a double terminated amethyst quartz. “This is super pretty. How much is it?”

  Shannon sighed. “Go ahead and take it. It’s my gift to you.”

  Tawni squealed. “Really?” She looked at Shannon in disbelief. “I’m sure something like this is real expensive.”

  “To the right person, yeah,” Shannon said. “But that person hasn’t showed up yet, and sometimes…” she paused, searching for the right words. “A stone will let you know who it’s supposed to go home with.”

  Tawni clutched the amethyst tightly. “That is so nice of you. Nobody’s ever given me anything like this.”

  “Well, I’m glad you like it.” Shannon smiled. “Tell everyone to come in and check out our sale, all right? We’ve got lots of good books that need to find their forever homes.”

  “I will,” Tawni said. “And I’ll come see you tomorrow.” She blushed. “As much as I’d like to go out with Brendan, if he’s got to be with someone, I’m glad it’s you.”

  Shannon smiled. “Thanks. That’s sweet of you to say.”

  “Course, if you guys aren’t working out, I’m not going to let the grass grow under my feet, you know what I mean?” In that moment, Tawni looked very young; Shannon had a sudden flash of memory, recalling what the younger woman had looked like laughing with her friends in the cafeteria.

  “Nobody can blame you,” Shannon said. “I wouldn’t either, if I were you.” She cocked her head. “But no offense, I hope you don’t get the chance.”

  Surprisingly, Tawni smiled. “No offense taken.” She strolled over to the door. “Have a good day. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

  “People are absolutely amazing.” An older man approached the checkout counter and laid a stack of books on the counter. A quick glance at the titles let Shannon know that this particular customer had a great interest in ceremonial magic. “Was that young woman trying to stake a claim to your paramour?”

  “Something like that,” Shannon said.

  “And you’re with child,” the customer stated.

  Shannon stepped back from the counter, shocked. “How did you know?”

  The customer laughed. “There’s a particular aura of exhaustion that only comes in the first few weeks of a woman’s first pregnancy. The body is shocked to find itself host to another spirit. Impossible to hide, especially from those of us who have seen it before.”

  Shannon laid her hands on the books the customer had selected. “You learned how to do this through your tradition?”

  “Oh, no,” the customer said, with a hearty laugh. “My wife and I have four daughters, and ten grandchildren. When you bear witness to that many pregnancies, you get to know what things look like.”

  “Do I look like I’ll have a healthy baby?” Shannon asked.

  The customer shrugged. “That’s not a matter of looks. That’s a matter of the choices you make.” He raised a fat finger and shook it at her. “Don’t let people fill your heads up with all kinds of fear and misinformation. Women have been having babies since the dawn of time. You know what you need to do to have a healthy child. Be sensible. Make smart choices, and trust yourself.” He lowered his finger and smiled. “You’ll be fine.”

  Shannon felt strangely better. “Thank you,” she said. “This whole thing is very new to me. I’m not sure what to expect.”

  “Get used to that,” the customer replied. “Kids will keep you on your toes. It makes life an adventure.”

  “That’s a nice way to think about it,” Shannon replied. She rang up his order, and gave him an extra discount. “Thank you for your advice. I’ll make sure to remember it.”

  “If that young man lets you go, he’s a fool,” the customer said, as he took his bag and departed. “Don’t you let that girl get her claws into him. She’s not the type to let loose without a fight.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Shannon said with a smile. “I’m not either.”

  The store was empty for a prolonged period after that. Shannon tried to keep herself busy, hanging sales flyers and discounting crystals, but the afternoon dragged. She couldn’t help but wonder where Brendan was.

  He’d told her the summer job at Stevens’ Insurance was pretty laid back. The bosses didn’t care how much time Brendan spent in the office, as long as the work – mostly filing and data entry – got done. Surely if he was planning to see her, he’d have slipped out of the office by now.

  Maybe he bailed. Shannon’s Mom was convinced that Brendan was what she called “one of the good ones” but Shannon wasn’t so sure. Brendan had plans and dreams of his own. Maybe the thought of being tied down with a baby scared him so much he packed up and left town, never to return. Stranger things had happened. Shannon’s own father was never around; why should she expect things to be any different for her child.

  “Stop it,” Shannon told herself. The words echoed strangely in the empty shop. “You know Brendan’s not like that.” Her heart sank. “I should have opened the door when he wanted me to.”

  The computer chimed “You’ve Got Mail!” signaling that an email had arrived. Shannon rushed to the screen, hoping against hope that it was from Brendan. It wasn’t. It was just a customer order – only a few titles, but every bit of inventory sold meant less that Shannon and Chloe had to deal with getting rid of.

  Gathering up the books for that order took a little while, and then Shannon had to package them for shipping. At the last minute, she decided to enclose a flyer letting the customer know about their going out of business sale. They didn’t have anything like that ready, so she created one and printed off a few dozen copies.

  “What’s that?” her mother asked. She’d spent the morning running errands. Selling the building was turning out to be more complicated than Shannon realized; Chloe had to arrange for lead testing and sewer inspection and all kinds of things before the sale could go through.

  Shannon showed her the flyer. “I figure anything we can do to get this stuff moving will help,” she said.

  Chloe nodded. “We don’t want to wind up having to give this stuff away.”

  Shannon felt guilty. “Um. About that. This morning, well.” She cocked
her head. “Do you remember Tawni? She went to school with me. Younger though.”

  “The little blonde girl who works at Mickey’s?” Chloe nodded. “Of course I know her.”

  “She came in this morning. I wound up giving her one of the stones from the case,” Shannon said. “I thought maybe it would encourage her to send some business our way.”

  “It can’t hurt,” Chloe said. “And I gave up any hopes of making our money back on those a long time ago.” She laughed. “You remember Ricky the Rockhound?”

  Shannon laughed. “That’s a blast from the past.” Ricky the Rockhound had been a gemstone salesman who’d frequented the store back when Shannon was in elementary school. “I always thought he was sweet on you.”

  “He was sweet on my money,” Chloe said. “And he thought he could dump a lot of crappy stones on me and I wouldn’t know any better.” She shook her head. “You should have seen the stuff he tried to sell me. Beach glass – only $50 a pound.”

  “A bargain at twice the price,” Shannon declared. “How could you possibly pass up this amazing deal?”

  “He got me a few times,” Chloe admitted. “But I didn’t fall for that one.” She cocked her head. “I don’t think Ricky would have ever got one over on you. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders.”

  The praise made Shannon feel warm and loved. “Well, I don’t know about that.”

  “I mean it,” Chloe said. “You’ve got it in you to be a really good business woman. I don’t mean a bookstore – nobody with any lick of sense is getting into book selling right now – but maybe you want to think about setting up some kind of shop of your own.”

  Shannon cocked her head. “I never really thought about it.”

  “It doesn’t have to be here in Claremont,” Chloe said. “Probably you’re better off if it’s not. They keep saying downtown is coming back, but they’ve been saying that for twenty years.”

  “You need money to start a business,” Shannon said. “A lot of money.”

  Chloe nodded. “There’s going to be some money after this sale goes through,” she said. “And some more after the house sells.”

  “You need that money,” Shannon said. “You don’t have anything saved up for retirement, you told me that. And it’s not like you have a ton of time to save money up.”

  Chloe laughed. “Thanks a lot, sweetheart. I’ll have you know I’m only 46 years old. I still have a few good years on me.”

  “That’s not what I meant, Mom. But I am not going to take your money.”

  “Yes, you are. You’re going to have to,” Chloe said. She glanced around the shop to make sure there were no customers there before continuing. “I’ve had a baby and no money at all, and I’ve had a baby with a little bit of money, and I can tell you one hundred percent that having money is much better than not having it. This child is coming, and you’re going to need to have some kind of plan of how you’ll provide for the two of you.”

  “Brendan…” Shannon began.

  “Brendan is going to be fresh out of college. I’m sure he’ll get a job, but that can take a while for things to really get going. And a baby can’t wait. They need formula now. They need diapers now. They can’t just go without until the money starts flowing.” Chloe paused.

  Shannon sighed. “This is all so hard.”

  Chloe pulled her daughter into her arms for a hug. “It’s hard because you don’t know what you’re doing yet. Give it a little time. Once you have your feet under you, you’ll find that you can handle anything.” She smiled. “And if your baby is half as cool as my baby is, you’re going to be so happy.”

  Shannon smiled. “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, honey. Things are going to be all right. You’ll see.”

  Chapter 10

  Buoyed by her mother’s words, Shannon felt better for a while. But that joy faded as the minutes turned to hours, and the hours turned to the remainder of the afternoon. When the end of the day came without Brendan making an appearance, Shannon was despondent.

  “Well, I guess it’s easy to see how this love story is going to go,” she said to herself as she closed the door to the backroom. “Wham, bam, thank you, Ma’am.” Shannon locked the cases holding the more precious crystals and gold jewelry; it was the only inventory a random thief would value. There wasn’t enough cash in the register to warrant making a bank run. She tucked the paltry handful of bills inside a hollowed out copy of the Heptameron Chloe kept on the shelves specifically for this purpose and turned the register off. Then Shannon killed the lights. The store looked as good as it ever did. It was time to go home.

  She went out the front door, hoping against hope to see Brendan there. But she was alone on the sidewalk. “Figures,” Shannon muttered, turning back to the door to make sure it was locked and alarmed properly. “I don’t even know who I thought I was fooling.”

  “Hey,” Brendan’s voice came from behind her. “Nobody calls my girl a fool and gets away with it.”

  Shannon whirled on her heel. Her eyes got wide when she saw Brendan. He was wearing a dark blue suit, with a white shirt and a tie, and he was holding a gigantic bouquet of red roses.

  “I really screwed up yesterday when we were talking,” he said. He held out the roses to her, smiling when Shannon took them in her arms. “Would you please let me try again?”

  Tears prickled in the corners of Shannon’s eyes. She nodded her head and whispered, “All right.”

  Brendan took a deep breath. “Shannon, I have loved you for as long as I could remember. I’m sorry I never worked up enough nerve to tell you that until now. I wish I’d said a lot of things a long time ago. But I can’t change what I didn’t do then. I’ve only got right now, this moment, to tell you what’s in my heart.”

  The roses smelled incredibly sweet. Their strong fragrance pushed its way up Shannon’s nose. She was feeling a little lightheaded, but in a good way. Brendan was saying everything she wanted to hear.

  “I’m not going to try to pressure you into anything. I know it’s too soon to call this a real relationship. But what happened, happened, and I think that means something.” He reached into his coat pocket.

  “Oh, my god,” Shannon breathed. “This isn’t happening.”

  “I can’t ask you to marry me yet,” Brendan said. “I’m just not ready. I’ve got to finish school, so I can provide for you and our little one.” The box in his hand was small, velvet and black. “This ring is my promise that I’m going to do that. I’m asking you to wait for me to be ready. It won’t be long,” he said, opening the box to reveal a shiny silver ring with a red heart shaped stone shining on the top. “And I promise it will be worth it.”

  “Oh, god, yes!” Shannon said. “I’ll wait for you. But I don’t want to wait alone.” She cocked her head. “You’ll come down here and see me?”

  “Every chance I get,” Brendan promised.

  “And when I drive up there to see you?”

  “I’ll be waiting with open arms,” Brendan replied.

  “All right,” Shannon said. She nodded and burst into tears. “Because I don’t want to have to do this all on my own, Brendan.”

  “You won’t have to,” he said. “I promise you that.”

  Chapter 11

  “I’m just not sure that having a sonogram on Halloween is the best idea ever,” Brendan joked. He laid one hand on Shannon’s tiny baby bump affectionately. “Who knows what they’re going to find in there?”

  “The odds are fifty-fifty that it’ll be a perfectly wonderful human baby,” Shannon replied.

  “Why only fifty-fifty?” Brendan asked, concern clear in his voice.

  “Well, it might take after you,” Shannon joked. “Mr. my-baby-is-a-Halloween-monster!”

  Brendan laughed. “You never know,” he said.

  They were the only couple in the waiting room. One very visibly pregnant woman had come alone; another woman was there with her best friend. “I’m so glad you could be here wi
th me for this,” Shannon said to Brendan. She squeezed his hand. “I’m excited, you know? But a little scared.”

  “Me too,” Brendan replied. “This is going to be…different.” He looked down at Shannon’s stomach. “I’m still getting used to the idea that there’s a little person in there.”

  “It’s so weird,” Shannon agreed. “I thought I felt her moving the other day, but I’m not one hundred percent sure. It could have been gas.”

  “You think it’s a girl?”

  “Maybe,” Shannon said. She’d had dreams about her new baby; in one, she’d given birth to a tiny boy. In the other, she had a daughter. “My Mom definitely does.”

  Brendan laughed. “Well, my Mom thinks it’s a boy, so I guess we’re even on that front,”

  “Dueling grandmas,” Shannon said.

  “Oh, don’t call Mom a grandma yet,” Brendan said. “I tried that, and she burst out crying. I think she needs time to get used to the idea.”

  Shannon’s laugh died on her lips. She wasn’t sure yet how she felt about Brendan’s parents’ reaction to the news the little one was coming. When she was with Brendan, they were nice enough, but while he was at school, she’d heard a few comments that weren’t exactly nice. “May will be here before too long – I hope she’s used to it by then.”

  Brendan nodded. “She will be, I’m sure.”

  The nurse appeared in the doorway and said, “Shannon?”

  Shannon followed her, heading to the small bathroom to give a urine sample – generally the first part of any visit. “Not this time, honey,” the nurse said. “They’ll get better images if your bladder is full.”

  “Oh boy,” Shannon said. She’d put off using the bathroom, knowing she had the appointment; if a full bladder made the sonogram better, hers was going to be great.

  The exam room was very small and cold. “Just get up on the table,” the nurse said. “The tech will be here in a moment.” She left, leaving Brendan and Shannon alone.

  “I can’t believe this is actually happening,” Shannon said. “We’re finally going to get to see our baby.”